Gift Focus - Jan/Feb 2019 (Issue 111)

giftfocus 23 trends The growth of herbal infusions and green teas shows people are trending towards health and wellbeing – especially drinks that offer energy, sleep or cleansing results. There’s certainly been an increased concern around caffeine intake, which has driven interest in herbal teas too. Retailers and café owners are much keener to promote these products – especially at the beginning of a new year or leading up to the summer when many people are on health kicks. Variety is also high up on people’s lists. The average tea drinker now wants more than just a “milk with two sugars” kind of experience – they know more about tea, they expect better quality and are happy to pay a bit more for it either while out at a café or to bring back home as a treat. All of our teas are healthy, but we’d noticed that more and more people were asking specifically about the benefits. That’s why we launched our range of feel-good teas with ingredients that will give consumers specific benefits as well as tasting amazing. Our newest feel-goods (calm, happy and trim) are all natural and organic. We’re working to find quality organic ingredients to make the rest of the range organic too! Matcha has really taken off, with 45 per cent of tea drinkers enjoying more matcha than this time last year (according to the latest Tetley Tea Report). People are aware of the health benefits, and the latte appears to be the most popular way of drinking it, although you can put it in pretty much anything – from smoothies and juices to porridges and muesli! Our matcha latte sachet range has proved incredibly popular with people wanting to make a high street-standard matcha latte at home. The sachets are available in chai or turmeric flavour and are made from pure, premium organic matcha and real, all-natural ingredients. No sweeteners or milk powders – you just add hot milk. It’s important to educate the customer on what they’re getting. The whole reason matcha gives you so many benefits is because it is a loose powder. Our matcha is 100 per cent organic green tea leaves ground into a fine powder so you can actually ingest all the yummy goodness of the green tea leaves. This means 1g of matcha has the health benefits of 10 regular tea bags of green tea. With this increased customer demand and the high margins it offers a retailer, matcha is set to become a real must-stock! Louise Cheadle, Co-founder, Teapigs teapigs.co.uk The trend forecast for next season brings some extraordinary and exciting looks. As a summary of the trends presented across all 11 of our lifestyle sectors at Top Drawer this January, you can expect to see rich, deep colours and textures of rusty earth – as well as a search for sensorial, tactile experiences that are achieved by contrasting different materials and surfaces, a mix of rough and smooth, throughout 2019. In terms of colour, Neo Mint, tipped to dominate the worlds of interior and fashion in 2020, is starting to make its mark on everything from bedding, clocks and children’s toys to statement jewellery and stationery. A slight twist on the popular celestial trend of 2018 sees the navy and gold palette remain but with a shift towards solar shapes with a more sophisticated take. Continuing the trend of mature takes on traditional themes, expect subtle nods to nautical throughout collections, on everything from wall art to the packaging of sweet treats. Still very much on-trend is the search for alternative, sustainable materials. We’re seeing eco-motivated design and production weaved across all areas of the shows, which is why we added a dedicated eco trail to guide interested buyers to these exhibitors. Visitors were able to explore a variety of ever-popular reusable bottles, greetings cards that can be planted to sprout plants, jewellery that, when purchased, sees funds invested in creating opportunities for those in need and luxurious rugs made from recycled plastic. We’re also seeing the redefinition of luxury, with a growing penchant for unique and hand-crafted pieces. Our CRAFT sector showcased handmade works for retailers in London, bringing awareness of their skills and providing something truly special to stores. The next edition of Top Drawer will run from 8 th -10 th September, 2019. Alejandra Campos, Event director, Top Drawer topdrawer.co.uk